1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to dental anchoring means and in particular to dental pins and an arrangement for inserting dental pins into teeth.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Dental anchoring pins have been proposed for use in anchoring built up superstructures onto teeth. For example in British Pat. No. 1,347,227 there is proposed a threaded pin releasably attached to a shank, the shank being arranged for location in a handpiece for insertion of the pin. Operation of the handpiece rotates the pin to drive the pin into a preformed hole in the tooth. The shank includes location means for holding the shank on a rotatable portion of the handpiece but the manner of location causes a risk of the shank and pin becoming detached from the handpiece and falling into the mouth of the patient. In British Pat. No. 1,482,681 there is proposed a similar dental pin and shank combination but in this case the shank has a positive locking arrangement for preventing inadvertent release of the shank from the handpiece. However the arrangement of the shank makes it relatively costly to produce and this is especially disadvantageous in view of the need for the shank to be a throw-away item after release of the pin.
In British patent application No. 2016631 there is disclosed a dental pin having a plastics shank which holds a metal dental anchor, a threaded portion of which is detachable upon insertion into a tooth. The anchor includes wings and is a force fit in the shank. After use the shank, which is shaped to fit the standard dental handpiece, and the remaining metal anchor part are thrown away.